JPH057042B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an initial ice-sealing method for an apparatus capable of freezing and pressurizing various beverage liquids, medicinal liquids, or other concentrated liquids.

[Prior Art] An apparatus has been developed that freezes a solution to form ice crystals and then pressurizes the ice crystals to separate highly concentrated solutes from the ice crystals to obtain a concentrated liquid.

However, in conventional devices, the tensile wire that pulls the ice crystals is moved upward within the ice crystal forming cylinder, and as a result, the processing capacity for recovering the concentrated liquid is not very good.

[Object of the present invention] The present invention is capable of improving the concentrated liquid recovery processing capacity by allowing the tensile wire rod that pulls the ice crystals to move downward, and also allows By making it possible to easily close the lower part of the ice crystal forming cylinder with ice (before starting), it is possible to eliminate the need for a closing mechanism such as a valve in the lower part of the cylinder before starting.

[Means of the present invention] The main means of the method of the present invention is to provide a pressurizing cylinder having a tapered hole at the bottom of a vertical cylinder having a mother liquor container at the top and an upper cooling section and a lower cooling section. A drain pipe for collecting concentrated liquid is connected to the tapered hole, and an endless tensile wire for pulling ice crystals is connected to the mother liquor container, inside the cylinder,
The mother liquor is transported through a pressurized cylinder, and the upper end of a vertical cylinder or the upper end of a cylinder connected to the upper part of the vertical cylinder is opened in the mother liquid container.
In addition, a pressurized freeze concentrator is used in which the solution is supplied to the mother liquor container by a pump.In the early stage before ice crystal formation, the cooling medium is flowed to the lower cooling part of the cylinder, and a small amount is supplied to the mother liquor container. By supplying a solution and letting the solution flow down along the inner surface of the cylinder, the flowing solution is frozen inside the cylinder, sealing the lower part of the cylinder with ice, and after sealing the ice, a cooling medium is also applied to the upper cooling part of the cylinder. The solution is to be poured into a cylinder and then frozen by filling the cylinder with the solution.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described with reference to a specific example shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of the apparatus used in the method of the present invention, in which a vertical cylinder 2, which is a cooling part, has a container 1 for mother liquid in its upper part, and a pressurizing cylinder 3, which has a tapered hole, which is a pressurizing part, is installed at the bottom of a vertical cylinder 2, which is a cooling part. The cylinder 2 and the pressurizing cylinder 3 are connected with a heat insulating material 6 interposed between the flanges 4 and 5 of the two.

Further, a tank 7 having a drain valve V at the bottom is provided at the bottom of the pressurizing cylinder 3, and a tensile wire 8 such as a chain, which is endlessly fed, is passed from a hole at the bottom of the mother liquor container 1 to the cylinder 2, It passes through the pressurizing cylinder 3 and enters the tank 7, is reversed upward by the wheel 9 inside, is driven by the drive wheel 10, passes through the intermediate guide wheels 11 and 12, and is fed from the supply wheel 13 to the mother liquor container 1, as described above. It is connected so that it is sent to cylinder 2.

The cylinder 2 is provided with jackets 14 and 15, which are two upper and lower cooling parts.
7a is an inlet for each cooling medium, 16b and 17b
indicates each same exit.

A jacket 18 is also provided on the pressurizing cylinder 3, which is a pressurizing body, and reference numerals 19a and 19b indicate respective inlets and outlets for fluid.

A drain pipe 20 for recovering the concentrated liquid is connected to the upper surface of the pressurizing cylinder 3, that is, the upper part of the tapered hole.

In this device, the solution in the cylinder 2 from the mother liquor container 1 is frozen into ice crystals by the cooling medium flowing through the jacket of the cylinder and is bonded to the tensile wire 8.

The tensile wire 8 is driven to descend within the cylinder 2, thereby causing the ice crystals to also descend.

The ice crystals that passed through the cylinder together with the tensile wire
It enters the next pressurizing cylinder 3 and is squeezed and pressurized by the inner surface of the tapered hole of the pressurizing cylinder.

This pressurization lowers the freezing point of the ice crystals, and the ice crystals melt from the area with high solute concentration, and the melted concentrated liquid flows from the area where the pressure on the ice crystals is high to the area where the pressure is low, that is, the lower part of the tapered hole. The liquid then moves to the upper inlet side and is collected from the drain pipe 20 into a collection container (not shown).

In the above-mentioned apparatus, it is necessary to close the lower part of the cylinder 2 at an early stage before ice crystals are formed in the cylinder 2, and after this closure, the cylinder is filled with a solution to form ice crystals.

In the method of the present invention, there is no need to use an opening/closing mechanism such as a valve to close the inside of the cylinder in the initial stage, and the inside of the cylinder can be easily closed, and this will be explained below.

The solution is supplied to the mother liquor container 1 by a pump P, but this supply is performed little by little at the beginning before ice crystals are formed in the cylinder, and the solution in the mother liquor container flows down along the inner wall surface of the cylinder. I am made to do so.

In order to make this more effective, for example, as shown in the figure, a cylindrical body 21 that penetrates the bottom of the mother liquor container 1 and has the same inner diameter as the inner diameter of the cylinder 2 is connected to the upper part of the cylinder 2. Upper hopper part 2 of 21
2 is opened into the mother liquid container 1, and the solution in the mother liquid container overflows from the hopper 22 into the cylinder 21, thereby causing the solution to flow down along the inner wall surface of the cylinder.

At this time, the cylinder cooling lower jacket 15
A cooling medium is passed through.

As a result, the solution flowing down the inner wall surface of the cylinder little by little is cooled by the cooling medium flowing through the lower jacket and quickly freezes into ice 23.
As a result, the solution flowing on the surface of the cylinder is gradually frozen and ice grows, until the lower part of the cylinder is blocked by ice.

After this blockage, the cooling refrigerant is also caused to flow into the upper jacket 14 of the cylinder according to a command from the timer, and the capacity of the pump P is increased so that its solution discharge amount can always fill the cylinder with solution.

The solution injected into the cylinder is transferred to the upper jacket 1.
It is frozen and crystallized by the cooling medium flowing through it.

When the solution is turned into ice crystals, the tensile wire 8 is driven, and the ice crystals in the cylinder are pressurized as they pass through the pressurizing cylinder, and the solute is separated by the above-described action.

[Effect] As described above, according to the present invention, the ice crystals formed in the cylinder are forcibly lowered and the solute-rich portions of the ice crystals are reduced by the pressure applied when passing through the pressurized cylinder. In the method of using a pressurized freeze-concentrator that is separated, there is no need to provide a closing mechanism at the bottom of the cylinder for closing before startup, and a pressurized freeze-concentrator that is inexpensive to manufacture can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of an apparatus used in the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view. In the figure, 1... Mother liquid container, 2... Cooling cylinder, 3... Pressurizing cylinder, 4, 5... Flange, 6...
Insulating material, 7...tank, 8... tensile wire, 9-13...
... Wheels, 14, 15 ... Jacket serving as cooling section, 18 ... Jacket of pressurizing cylinder, 20 ... Drain pipe for collecting concentrated liquid, 21 ... Cylindrical body, 22 ...
Hopper, 23...ice.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pressurizing cylinder having a tapered hole is connected to the lower part of a vertical cylinder having a mother liquor container at the upper part and an upper cooling part and a lower cooling part, and a drain for collecting concentrate is connected to the tapered hole. A pipe is connected so that an endless tensile wire for pulling ice crystals is routed through the mother liquor container, the cylinder, and the pressurized cylinder, and the upper end of the vertical cylinder or the cylinder is connected to the mother liquor container. A pressurized freeze concentrator is used, in which the upper end of the cylinder connected to the upper part of the cylinder is open, and the solution is supplied to the mother liquid container by a pump. At the same time, a small amount of solution is supplied to the mother liquid container, and the solution is allowed to flow down along the inner surface of the cylinder, thereby freezing the flowing solution in the cylinder and sealing the lower part of the cylinder with ice.
An initial ice-sealing method for a pressurized freeze-concentrator, in which a cooling medium is also flowed into the upper cooling part of the cylinder after ice-sealing, and the cylinder is filled with a solution and frozen.